The present invention relates to a refrigeration device, particularly a domestic refrigeration device, having a no-frost design.
A no-frost refrigeration device conventionally comprises at least one storage chamber for items to be cooled and an evaporator chamber in which an evaporator and a ventilator are accommodated. The ventilator serves to drive air circulation running through the storage chamber and the evaporator chamber, and by means of which the storage chamber is cooled. The storage chamber and the evaporator chamber of a device of this type are usually surrounded by a common housing, the interior space of which is divided by an intermediate wall into the evaporator chamber and the storage chamber.
Moisture introduced into the refrigerator with the items to be cooled or by opening the door should condense only on the evaporator, since in a period when the evaporator and the ventilator are out of operation, the evaporator can be defrosted and the moisture collecting thereon can be conducted out of the appliance without resulting in noticeable warming of the items to be cooled in the storage chamber.
A problem can arise if the route of the air between the storage chamber and the evaporator chamber is not sufficiently precisely defined. Ideally, the entirety of the air drawn out of the storage chamber should be conducted past the evaporator in the evaporator chamber in order to dehumidify said air at the evaporator and to prevent residual moisture condensing out on the ventilator. If, however, there is not an adequate seal between the evaporator chamber and the storage chamber, it can occur that air leaking out of the storage chamber is drawn through gaps between the separating wall and the housing directly into the intermediate space of the evaporator chamber which lies, in terms of flow, between the evaporator and the ventilator. The relatively warm and moist leakage air mixes in the intermediate space with the air cooled at the evaporator. As a result of the consequent cooling, the relative air humidity can rise to over 100%, with the result that condensation forms on surfaces lying further downstream. If too much condensation collects at the ventilator, the ventilator can ice up, with the result that the storage chamber can no longer be cooled.
Furthermore, air leakage impairs the energy efficiency of the refrigeration device since firstly, the driving energy expended by the ventilator to draw in the leakage air does not contribute to cooling the storage chamber, and secondly, in order to achieve a desired temperature in the storage chamber, the evaporator must be cooled to a temperature that is all the lower, the stronger is the leakage air stream.